The Man‐Made World
XIV. A HUMAN WORLD.
In the change from the dominance of one sex to the equal power of
two, to what may we look forward? What effect upon civilization is
to be expected from the equality of womanhood in the human race?
To put the most natural question first—what will men lose by it?
Many men are genuinely concerned about this; fearing some new position of subservience and disrespect. Others laugh at the very idea of change in their position, relying as always on the heavier fist.
So long as fighting was the determining process, the best fighter must needs win; but in the rearrangement of processes which marks
our age, superior physical strength does not make the poorer wealthy, nor even the soldier a general.
The major processes of life to‐day are quite within the powers of women; women are fulfilling their new relations more and more successfully; gathering new strength, new knowledge, new ideals.
The change is upon us; what will it do to men?
No harm.
As we are a monogamous race, there will be no such drastic and cruel selection among competing males as would eliminate the vast
majority as unfit. Even though some be considered unfit for fatherhood, all human life remains open to them. Perhaps the most important feature of this change comes in right here; along this old line of sex‐selection, replacing that power in the right hands, and using it for the good of the race.
The woman, free at last, intelligent, recognizing her real place and responsibility in life as a human being, will be not less, but more, efficient as a mother. She will understand that, in the line of physical evolution, motherhood is the highest process; and that her work, as a contribution to an improved race, must always involve this great function. She will see that right parentage is the purpose of the whole scheme of sex‐relationship, and act accordingly.
In our time, his human faculties being sufficiently developed, civilized man can look over and around his sex limitations, and begin to see what are the true purposes and methods of human life.